Monday, March 24, 2014

BATTLE OF BRITAIN: Blu-ray (UA 1969) Fox Home Video

In movies, as
in life, timing is everything. Case in point: the real Battle of Britain. By spring
1940, Adolph Hitler was rather garrulous about thumbing his nose at the rest of
the world. His blitzkriegs and Anschluß had succeeded in devouring the whole of
middle Europe with but two enemies remaining to be conquered: Russia and Great
Britain. Britain was a more pressing thorn in Hitler’s side as they had been open
in their condemnation of his daydreams for world domination, and had, in fact,
made the very declarative statement to resist Nazi encroachment at any and all
costs. As America quietly observed this brewing of a spectacular clash between
two stalwart rams – Hitler and the U.K.’s Winston Churchill, the latter was
extremely conscious that Germany’s military might outnumbered his own forces
roughly four to one.

Herein, the
English Channel proved Churchill’s salvation; a disruptive body of water that
had prevented virtually all other warring influences throughout history from conquering
their tight little isle. Undaunted, Hitler amassed his air forces in Normandy, plotting
an invasion by sea as the second assault, while assuming a guaranteed victory
in the skies. He was mistaken – severely
– the Battle of Britain lasting from July 1940 to May 1941, inflicting great
casualties both in its physical destruction of London and the human toll. Ultimately,
the Nazis were unable to penetrate the resolve of the British people. Moreover,
Britain’s RAF – while relatively diminutive in size – was nevertheless
extremely well-trained and able to disrupt, intercept and engage the aerial
invasion on its own terms. By October 1940, it was painfully clear to Hitler he
had misjudged the British in their stubborn capacity to endure suffrage. Instead,
Hitler was forced to postpone – then withdraw – from his plans for Operation
Sea Lion. The tide had suddenly begun to turn against him.

Flash forward
to 1969 and Guy Hamilton’s Battle of
Britain: a gallant attempt to celebrate this decisive victory on celluloid.
Alas, timing remained everything. In the interim, the world had grown weary of
war; the public’s perceptions having shifted away from its magnanimity.
Yesterday’s noble heroes were today’s war mongers. Hence, not even producer
Harry Saltzman’s amassing of a veritable entourage in vintage WWII Spitfires
and Hurricanes, or director Hamilton’s stockpiling an impressive array of
international stars could salvage the movie’s abysmal implosion at the box
office. On a staggering $12,000,000 budget, Battle of Britainmade back less than one third its’ outlay.
Critically, the movie was on even shakier ground; eviscerated as pure hokum of
the war-time propaganda ilk, made even more desperate and silly by the
producers’ decision to infuse the production with ‘look who’s here’ cameos; a star-studded approach gleaned from
Michael Todd’s Around the World in
Eighty Days (1956), later carried to the height of absurdity in Stanley
Kramer’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963).

Unfortunately,
by 1969, this once seemingly indestructible era in glamorous film-making had run
its course as audiences clamored for grittier realism on their movie screens. Battle of Britain is undeniably elegant
movie-making; the last of a dying breed. So obviously a throwback, particularly
in its cataloguing of time-honored clichés from just about every war movie ever
made, Battle of Britainmaintains
its unswerving fidelity to that stiff upper lip, ‘Rule Britannia’ way of life that had once typified the morality, as
well as the mentality of these loyalists to the crown. One can either choose to
fault or praise the movie’s adherence to this patriotic fervor and sentiment.
But no one can deny Battle of Britain
has merit and exceptional entertainment value. For starters, there’s Maurice
Carter’s exquisite production design; managing to recapture the gallantry as
well as the immense scope of the conflict. Also for one’s consideration are
Freddie Young’s sumptuous cinematography and Ron Goodwin’s rousing musical
underscore; not to mention Ray Caple, Cliff Richardson, Glen Robinson and Wally
Veevers’ special effects; all but a handful recreating the horrors of the blitz
and perilous aerial maneuvers.

If one were to
provide a complete list of the behind-the-scenes talents responsible for Battle of Britain’s meticulous
verisimilitude, it could very well encompass a review of its own. Ditto for the
cast roster; a veritable who’s who of talent – most of them arguably wasted (or
rather, underused) as the James Kennaway/Wilfred Greatorex screenplay struggles
to find its emotional center amidst a multi-layering of subplots and back
stories. In point of fact, Battle of
Britain does waffle in its storytelling, with an interminable seesaw effect
factored in; ricocheting between shabbily constructed melodrama and inserts of
airplanes flying overhead and/or being shot down in a trailing plumage of
grayish/white engine smoke.

At the time of
its release, more than one critic pointed out that the aerial footage assembled
for these action sequences is recycled throughout the movie; the same
dogfights, crashes, et al. ever so slightly reassembled in the editing process
to get more mileage from the basic raw footage. I can’t deny it. I think I saw
the same Stuka hit the water three or four times. Still, the impressiveness of
the aerial stunt work in totem outweighs whatever ‘looping’ was done in the editing
room; the dogfights even more impressive when one considers no models or CGI
were used to complete the effect. These sequences alone are largely responsible
for Battle of Britain’s ballooning
budget. And the movie’s screenplay, if something of a patchwork (loosely based
on Derek Dempster and Derek Wood’s book ‘The
Narrow Margin) is nevertheless more than capable at passing the time. We
are never bored and/or visually starved for something to appreciate. In fact,
the integration of melodrama with these action sequences is, on the whole, admirably
achieved.

Responding to
Harry Saltzman’s request for one hundred vintage RAF aircraft to employ in these
battle sequences, Bomber Command Group Captain, Hamish Mahaddie achieved
something of the impossible, amassing an impressive array of 109 aircraft to be
photographed on the ground. Regrettably, only twenty-seven were well-preserved and
less than half still airworthy. So, Saltzman and Mahaddie fudged the details…just
a little…Mahaddie negotiating the use of six Hawker Hurricanes - three viable
in the sky; a North American B-25 Mitchell, plus the use of various Spitfire Mk
I and II models, adapted with minor modifications to mimic the vintage look. As
for the German air force; Saltzman gathered together Heinkels, Junkers and
Buchons; again with a few minor modifications, transformed into the German Messerschmitt
Bf 109, in addition to seventeen actual Messerschmitts still in flyable
condition.

Battle of Britain was photographed in the U.K., utilizing
existing and well-preserved wartime operations rooms; also, Aldwych’s ‘tube’
station (which had served as an air-raid shelter during the war), plus Air
Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding's original office. Saltzman was also given
permission by the London government to shoot sequences for the blitz around St.
Katherine Docks; allowed to burn and otherwise destroy various buildings as
they already had been slated for demolition to make way for future housing
development. Exteriors were primarily shot in Kent, Duxford, Debden, North
Weald and Hawkinge, with additional sequences lensed in Spain and Malta, after
weather conditions in Britain proved unmanageable. To director Guy Hamilton’s
credit, these obvious shifts in local are imperceptible in the final edit.

Battle of Britain involves a lengthy prologue;
actually beginning with the Battle of France in May 1940: Squadron Leader Colin
Harvey (Christopher Plummer) given the briefest of warnings before an assault
by the German blitzkrieg decimates his remaining planes on the ground. We segue
momentarily to Switzerland, to the home of British Minister, Sir David Kelly
(Ralph Richardson). A cordial visit fromBaron von Richter(Curd Jürgens)
sours almost immediately when Kelly informs Richter that Britain shall not be
dissuaded from a confrontation with the Nazis, regardless of what Hitler has
presumed as his own military supremacy. From one office to another; the movie
now introduces us to RAF Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding (Laurence Olivier) who,
realizing the imminence of an invasion, stops deploying aircraft to France
immediately. We return to France; Freddie Young’s camera sailing over the
deserted beaches of Dunkirk as we hear Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s
declaration that the battle of France is over…the battle of Britain, about to
begin.

Immediately
following the credits we are introduced to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring (Peter
Hager), inspecting one of the Nazi strongholds in France, with hundreds of
Heinkel bombers lined up and readied for action. But von Richter is stunned
when the Führer informs him the British are not their ‘natural enemy’ and
delays his planned invasion, hoping instead for a diplomatic settlement. In England,
commanders use this valuable time to build up their strength and continually
train their pilots for counterattacks. Eventually, the Luftwaffe receives
orders from its high command to prepare for the first assault of what is
essentially a sea-borne invasion. Operation ‘Eagle Day’ begins at dawn, systematically eliminating the RAF
before they have time to launch their Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. But the
Luftwaffe pilots question this strategy, suggesting it would be more prudent to
engage the British in the air where they can be more easily shot down.
Nevertheless, Eagle Day is a success; toppling two of Britain’s crucial radar
stations and decimating several of their airfields.

The RAF is
also being eroded from within; an internal conflict between commanding officers
Air Vice Marshals Keith Park (Trevor Howard), and Trafford Leigh-Mallory
(Patrick Wymark). Leigh-Mallory is tasked with protecting Park’s airfields.
Instead, his fighters are nowhere to be seen. Dowding’s inquiries into their
repeated absence are met with viable excuses. It’s not tactics, but a critical
shortage of pilots, impugning Leigh-Mallory’s ability to protect the skies. Dowding
agrees. Furthermore, he is of the opinion that unless new pilots and planes can
be amassed in a very short time the cause cannot be won in their favor. It’s a
paralytic realization for both Parks and Leigh-Mallory; one that heightens the
overall immediacy of Britain’s peril in this crucial conflict.

If Battle of Britainhas a shortcoming, it
remains its departure from this initially competent set-up to instead,
intermittently, focus on several tertiary characters who devolve the central
narrative into pulpy soap opera: like Section Officer Maggie Harvey (Susannah
York), a love interest for Chris Plummer’s rakishly handsome, though impetuously
short-tempered flyboy; or cynical Squadron Leader Canfield (Michael Caine)
whose dog is the last ‘person’ to see
him off before he dies in a hideous plane crash. Exemplary talents like Robert
Shaw (cast as curmudgeonlySquadron Leader Skipper) and Kenneth More are utterly
wasted in thankless walk-ons; More as Group Capt. Baker, who is merely a
comforting shoulder for Maggie to cry on after she has casually met Jamie
(James Cosmo), a badly burned pilot; a bit of unnecessary foreshadowing in the
Kennaway/Greatorex screenplay, signifying the ominous future awaiting Colin;
one Maggie will be unable to manage – or even comprehend.

Arguably, the
movie’s visuals never disappoint, although some sequences seem quite pointless,
except to show off the gigantisms in Claude Hudson’s production design: as with
Rolf Steifel’s not altogether successful Adolf Hitler, glimpsed only from the
back or in extreme long shot, during an elaborately staged Nazi pep rally. We can applaud Battle of Britain for such grandiosity, but not for its’ repeated
mangling of this pivotal chapter in world history. Ultimately, director Guy
Hamilton has gone for the gusto a la Michael Todd; Battle of Britain devolving into a series of ‘Todd-onian’ vignettes
as the movie progresses to its’ inevitable flag-waving conclusion. The turning
point in the narrative occurs after a squadron of German bombers becomes lost
in the night fog, dropping their payload (intended for another military
installation) on unsuspecting London instead. In retaliation, the RAF launches
an attack on Berlin. Casualties are negligible. But Hitler is incensed and publicly
orders London to be razed. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Hein Riess) confidently
supervises these air raids, skirting the RAF and decimating the city by night.

To supplement
their own Commonwealth forces, the RAF recruits exiled foreign pilots, mostly Poles
who struggle with their English-language skills, making any sort of unified
communications between squadrons virtually impossible. On one such training
mission, a free Polish squadron inadvertently encounters an unescorted group of
German bombers. Against their British commander’s strenuous objections, they
peel off and engage the enemy, downing several of their aircraft. As far as the
instructor is concerned, the exercise has been a total disaster. But Park
rewards the Polish recruits with operational status; Dowding doing the same
with the Canadian and Czech factions under his command. Park and Dowding’s
evaluation of Hitler’s decision to repeatedly bomb London has afforded Park the
necessary time to repair his airfields. Dowding concludes that, in choosing to
bomb the city Hitler’s decisive has become the ‘German's biggest blunder.’

Prepared to
meet the challenge of another bombing raid, Wing Commander Willoughby (Robert
Flemyng) engages large groups of RAF pilots in a dogfight, overwhelming the
Nazi forces and breaking up their formations. Outraged, Göring orders his
fighters to remain with the bombers; an ill-fated strategic move, resulting in
mass casualties on both sides. The climactic air battle on Sept. 15, 1940 is a
spectacular display of valor as British ground control, under Churchill’s
watchful eye, orders every squadron into the skies. Intense combat results in
heavy losses. But the RAF has proven their metal once and for all. Unwilling to
sustain further casualties, Hitler promptly cancels Operation Sea Lion; the
decision capped off with a reverse shot of the French port once teeming with
Kriegsmarine vessels and landing barges, now utterly deserted. Battle of Britainconcludes with a
famous quote by Churchill writ dramatically across the wild blue yonder, “Never in the field of human conflict was so
much owed by so many to so few.” Interestingly, this quote has been altered
for the DVD and Blu-ray releases to another by Churchill: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it
is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Battle of Britain is an engaging movie in spots.
But it fails as cohesive storytelling; the back story soap operas involving the
principle cast eventually overpower its combat footage. Is this a tale of
personal heroism or national pride? Hmmm. We’re never entirely sure. Screenwriters
Kennaway and Greatorex are unable to successfully amalgamate what they so
obviously perceive as two separate narratives running a parallel – though never
intersecting - course. Battle of Britain’s
formidable cavalcade of stars is, regrettably, not complimentary to the story
being told. We expect more from talents like Edward Fox, Ralph Richardson,
Michael Redgrave and Barry Foster and are bitterly disappointed when each appears
merely as token faces meant to stand out in relief from the rest of the nameless
many who populate this movie. Even those
afforded the arguably ‘larger’ parts,
as Christopher Plummer’s Colin Harvey, are unceremoniously discarded by the end
of the movie – sacrificed to the overreaching arc of action. Refocusing on the
battle - and not the private lives impacted along the way - suddenly becomes
much too grandiose; the purpose of such a distinguished roster of talent to
tell this tale rendered preposterous and ineffectual.

Not
surprising, Battle of Britain’s
lavish production was an arduous affair for all concerned. Director Guy Hamilton
is no stranger to such lavish film-making, keeping tight reigns on his
multi-faceted shoot that, nevertheless, went over budget. Perhaps nowhere is
the weighted stress of the movie’s incubation more immediate than in UA’s
corporate decision to yank the original patriotic score written by Sir William
Walton (and conducted by Malcolm Arnold); a judgment call made without the
luxury of seeing the score married to picture, and predicated on nothing better
than the fact Walton’s compositions failed to meet the disingenuous criteria of
filling up two sides of an LP recording, meant to pre-market the movie to
audiences. Eventually, composer/conductor
Ron Goodwin was hired to re-score Battle
of Britain; an executive decision that outraged Sir Laurence Olivier – who also threatened
to have his name removed from its credits. As a result, some of Walton’s
underscoring remains in the finished film; particularly his ‘Battle in the Air’ cue – played without
sound effects during the climactic dogfight and attaining an awe-inspiring,
almost poetic quality unlike any other moment in the movie.

Fox Home
Video’s Blu-ray of Battle of Britainis decidedly disappointing. At 133 min. this lengthy excursion ought to have
been dual-layered to take advantage of Blu-ray’s higher bitrate. Instead it’s
single-layered and sourced from an obvious print rather than original camera
negatives. Although relatively clean, we still get dirt and minor scratches
throughout. There’s also some annoying gate weave. This could have easily been
eliminated. Colors are mostly accurate; flesh tones very solid – if slightly
too orange on occasion. There’s also a hint of edge enhancement and some artificial
sharpening at play; most scenes grainier than necessary; the indigenous film
grain looking slightly digitized in spots.Battle
of Britain was one of Fox’s earliest Blu-ray releases and they really need
to go back to the drawing board on this one for another HD master. The 5.1 DTS
fares better, although it is a sincere regret Fox has not taken the option exercised
on their Region 2 DVD to present both the Walton and Goodwin’s scores for the
viewer to appreciate. Finally, there are NO extra features. Bottom line: pass.

About Me

Nick Zegarac is a freelance writer/editor and graphics artist. He holds a Masters in Communications and an Honors B.A in Creative Lit from the University of Windsor.
He is currently a freelance writer and has been a contributing editor for Black Moss Press and is a featured contributor to online's The Subtle Tea. He's also has had two screenplays under consideration in Hollywood.
Last year he finished his first novel and is currently searching for an agent to represent him.
Contact Nick via email at movieman@sympatico.ca